A

Adopted: Adopted children have an Adoption Order.  

Adoptee: A person who has been adopted. Adoption UK recently ran a survey about what adopted adults preferred to be called & only 25% preferred this term. Most opted for adopted person or adopted adult. 

Adoption Agency: An organisation that works with prospective parents and children to assess, match, arrange and support adoptive placements. These can be regional/statutory (RAAs) or voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs). The main difference between the two is that VAAs are independent organisations which are smaller than most local government agencies. RAAs are collaboratives of regional local authority adoption teams. The process can sometimes be quicker through an RAA. VAAs offer a more personalised service.

Adoption Assessment: Process to assess potential parents in preparation for adoption. Involves initial interviews, background checks including medicals and references. Progresses to ‘home study’ during which a social worker will work in depth with potential adopters to review suitability to become an adoptive parent.  The length of time this can take varies depending on the resources of the agency and any issues that arise during the assessment.

Adoption Decision Maker: A senior social work Manager in each adoption agency, who takes into account all the required reports and the adoption panel’s recommendation; and makes a final decision as to whether adoption is in a child’s best interests and whether or not prospective adopters should be approved. 

Adoption Order: Once a child has an Adoption Order, the adopters become the child’s legal parents. 

Adoption Panel: Makes recommendations as to whether it is in the best interests of children to be adopted, whether prospective adopters should be approved to adopt and whether specific children and families should be matched for adoption. The Panel’s recommendations are passed to the Adoption Agency Decision Maker for a final decision to be made.  Panel members include adoption social workers alongside experienced adopters and others with relevant knowledge of adoption eg. legal and medical advisors.  

Attachment: The emotional bond between two individuals, specifically in the case of adoption between child and adoptive parent.  Children who become looked after may suffer from disrupted attachments due to early life experiences and may find it more difficult to form secure attachments with adoptive parents.

AUK: Often used acronym for Adoption UK.

B

Best interests decision: This is a decision by the agency decision maker that adoption is in a particular child’s best interests.  This is made following consideration of all the required reports and the recommendation of an adoption panel.

Birth family: A child’s biological mother and father, who may or may not have been involved in the child’s early care.  Birth families include by extension grandparents, uncles, aunts and siblings who may or may not have played a part in the child’s life.  Birth parents will always be the child’s biological parents, and their history will be important for a child to understand as they grow up.  After an adoption order is made, birth parents are no longer the child’s legal parents.

C

CAMHS: A service that specialises in behavioural, emotional and mental well-being and the care of children and young people who experience significant mental health difficulties.  Accessed by referral.

Care experienced: Children who have at some point lived in local authority care.  

Care Plan: Document providing information relating to a child’s needs and future plans. 

Care Proceedings: Legal proceedings whereby a Court makes decisions about the child’s future care.  It may be decided that a children should return to their birth family, be adopted or remain in care on a fostering basis.

Concurrency planning: See below - early permanence.

Contact: Most adopted children will continue to have some level of direct/ indirect contact with their birth family.  This is important for children to have an honest understanding of their personal history.  The level and type of contact to be facilitated post adoption will be agreed prior to the adoption of the child/ren.  This should be in keeping with the needs of the child and may be subject to change over time as a child grows.

D

DDP: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) is a therapy that focuses on strengthening the connection and attachment between children, young people, and their caregivers. 

Developmental Delay: Children who don’t reach expected milestones at expected times are described as developmentally delayed. Delays can be evident in one or a number of different areas including motor skills, speech and language, social, and emotional skills, and cognitive (thinking) skills.

E

Early permanence: The child is placed with carers who are approved as both foster carers and adopters. The primary plan is adoption, though social workers continue to work with the birth family to explore the possibility of the child being returned to them. The carers act as the child’s foster carers up until the point when the child’s legal status is changed to ‘placed for adoption’. These placements are intended to help children build early attachments to carers while reducing everyone’s waiting times. There are other terms for early permanence, including ‘Foster to Adopt’, ‘Dual Approval’ and ‘Concurrency planning’.   

F

FASD: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is a condition that can occur when a fetus is exposed to alcohol prenatally. It can happen at any point of pregnancy and often before the pregnancy is known. FASD affects 3-5% of the general population and up to 33% of the care experienced population. It is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition that can affect any and all areas of development.

Foster Care: Foster parents provide a stable home for a child but do not hold parental responsibility.  Foster carers may have provided care on a short or long-term basis; and in some cases, they may apply to adopt a child who has been living in their care.

H

HSC Trust: Health and Social Care Trusts are statutory organisations in Northern Ireland which manage hospitals and provide health and social care services. There are 5 HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland that provide adoption services to children and families.

I

Intercountry adoption: If prospective adopters choose to adopt from another country their assessment and approval to adopt will be completed locally. Financial responsibility for intercountry adoption is incurred by the prospective adopters.

Introductions: These take place after prospective adopters have been matched with a child at an adoption or matching panel.  Introductions are carefully managed to support a child’s move from their foster carers to their prospective adoptive family.  They can take place over a couple of weeks and will be guided by the child’s age and individual needs.  

K

Kinship care: Children in Kinship Care are being parented by wider family members (eg grandparents) or sometimes close family friends. There are different types of Kinship, including Special Guardianship.  

L

Life story work: The process of helping adopted children separated from their birth families to make of sense of their life experiences, past and present.  The information shared will include facts about birth family, early life experiences and how they came to be adopted.

Looked After: These children are under local authority care. Up to 90%  live with foster families. A minority of children live in Children’s Homes, residential schools, secure units and other settings.  

M

Matching: Identifying a suitable adoptive family for a specific child.  Social workers and the adoption panel will weigh up the identified needs of a particular child and the agreed matching criteria and parenting skills of prospective adopters. They must also consider how the prospective adopter’s parenting capacities can be supported and developed as the child’s needs change over time.

P

PATH: Adoption UK's Psychology and Therapy Hub. The PATH team deliver a range of psychological therapies, drawing from a variety of approaches and expertise including therapeutic life story work, attachment, trauma, neurodiversity, trauma-informed parenting, non-violent resistance, DDP and sensory integration. We also offer therapy for adults looking for support with issues such as loss, identity and managing relationships.

Placed for adoption: These children have started living with their adoptive families, pending an Adoption Order. 

Placement Order: Children with a Placement Order can legally be placed with a family for adoption.  

Post adoption support: Support services available to adoptive families after adoption.  These can be provided by adoption agencies or by charities like Adoption UK.

Previously looked after: Children who have been moved into adoptive families or are living permanently with wider family members, under some sort of Kinship arrangement.  

R

RAA: Regional Adoption Agency

S

Sensory Processing Disorder: A condition which affects how the brain receives and responds to information that comes in through the senses.  This disorder can affect only one or multiple senses.  Children with sensory processing disorder may UNDER or OVER react to certain sights, sounds, tastes, touches or smells.  They may appear clumsy, seem to have a very high or low pain threshold, hide or run from loud noises, struggle with particular food textures or be unable to bear certain clothing fabrics.

T

Therapeutic parenting: A term used to describe high structure/ high nurture intentional parenting that encourages feelings of safety and connectedness so that a traumatized child can begin to heal and attach to their adoptive parent/s. 

V

VAA: Voluntary Adoption Agency